


my heart is a compass

by KeybladeCryptography



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: A general disaster of romantic clichés and cheesiness, Celestial Imagery, Featuring Roxas's inferiority complex, First Kiss, Love Confessions, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26829418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeybladeCryptography/pseuds/KeybladeCryptography
Summary: Rox and Ven WeekDay 1: Mirror Image + "I am me, nobody else."Roxas likes Ven. A lot. He’s open and gentle and patient . . . all things Roxas isn’t. They share the same face, so why can’t Roxas share his good nature?
Relationships: Roxas/Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	my heart is a compass

Roxas knows he’ll always favor the sunset bursting above the Twilight Town skyline but he’s not too proud of his hometown to admit that the starry sky stretched like a blanket over the Land of Departure is a close second. The sky is so much bigger here, resolutely open and unwaveringly brilliant. It stretches beyond Roxas’s sight to melt into the everything and nothing that makes up the Lanes Between. He wonders if the sky itself was born or bloomed here along with the sparrows and the field mice and the flowers, if travelers could navigate by the light of the Land of Departure instead of the north star. He wonders if Ven would know.

Roxas can barely hear the steady breathing of the other boy beside him. It’s slow and quiet like the clean night air enveloping them, laden with sleepiness like the wet warmth of early autumn. The evening’s first shooting star sails through the dark sea above and he hears Ven suck in a lungful of air through the gap in his two front teeth. The faintest of breezes dips down to touch Roxas’s cheek, giving him the courage to find his voice and disturb the silence. “Hey, Ven.” It comes out a little louder than intended and Roxas presses his teeth to his tongue.

Ven’s voice is gentle in comparison, every syllable dissolving into stardust after it’s spoken and joining in with the cosmic noise. “What is it, Roxas?”

Roxas takes a moment or two too long to gather his thoughts and try to turn them into something that doesn’t sound stupid. Ven waits, so quiet that Roxas would think he’d fallen asleep for real this time if not for the sound of the grass bowing beneath the weight of his repositioned elbow. In the end, Roxas can’t find the words he wants so he settles for blurting out his thoughts like usual. “Did the sky start here? In the Land of Departure I mean. It feels like the sky starts here and then just goes on forever but I guess that’s kind of dumb.”

Ven hums and the grass crinkles again as he rolls onto his side. He pats the ground and Roxas rolls to face him. He studies the other boy and thinks, as he often does, that though they have the same face, Ven wears it better. Ven’s eyes are half-lidded but bright and his lips are slightly parted, words forming on the tip of his tongue. There’s dirt smudged on his round cheek and he’s started growing his hair out and a strand falls over the bridge of his narrow nose. All of his features suit him. Roxas’s tongue is too sharp for the softness of his face, his eyes too blue for all the time he spends among the warm hues of brick and sunlight. 

“It’s not dumb. I used to think the same thing. I guess I still kind of do.” He laughs and smiles and his eyelashes brush his skin but Roxas isn’t fooled by his attempt to soften the edge of self-deprecation.

“Do you think that the Land of Departure is like the north star?”

Ven’s answer comes quicker this time and his tone is cheerful. Another star falls with a streak of light overhead. “Kind of! It is for me but I think that’s only because Terra and Aqua are here. I feel the same way about Twilight Town and the Destiny Islands because of you and Xion and Sora.”

“Huh. So not like the north star, but like a compass.”

Ven beams so bright it’s like all of the light above them is condensed into his smile. Roxas looks up and away from him but there’s not much of a difference because Ven is like the night sky here itself. He is sincere and open like the expanse of space and temperate like the evening air. He’s gentle like the dim glow and patient and steady like Sirius and Polaris. Roxas started from his heart before he had one of his own and yet Ven is everything Roxas isn’t.

Roxas is reserved and temperamental and intense and mercurial. Roxas may have Ven’s face but he doesn’t have his good nature to match.

Ven says something but Roxas doesn’t hear. Ven, good, sweet, patient Ven kindly repeats it. “I said you’re smart for thinking of that, Roxas.”

“Nah. I didn’t even know what a compass was until you told me last week.” Laugh. Smile. Self-deprecation. They have that in common, at least.

“Don’t do that,” Ven says.

“Do what?”

Ven is quiet for a moment before he sits up and starts to gesture vaguely, his hands hovering over his heart before moving approximately in the direction of Roxas’s mouth and making a lopsided circle. “The thing. The putting yourself down thing.”

“It’s just a joke.”

“No it’s not.”

“You do the same thing.”

Ven sucks in another breath and Roxas bolts upright. Ven’s soft face is wrinkled, his bright eyes downcast. “Sorry,” Roxas says, “sorry, I didn’t mean-”

Ven shakes his head and stops waving his hands around to rest them on Roxas’s. He runs colder than Roxas was expecting. “Yes you did. It’s okay, Roxas. I like that about you.”

“I’m still sorry.” There’s another silence that stretches on just a few seconds too long and speaking on impulse like always Roxas fills it with, “I wish I was good like you. We look alike but I’m not as nice.”

Ven stares at him and for once Roxas can’t read him. He worries that somehow Ven, shining, heart of pure light Ven has gone dark. His worries are put to rest when Ven starts laughing so hard that tears start to glisten in the corner of his eyes. “You’re not good like me because you’re not me. You’re you, Roxas, so you’re good in your own way.”

Roxas ducks his head. “I should’ve thought of that.”

“I like that about you too. You’re thoughtful and you always speak your mind. Also, your hands are warm.” Ven tugs at Roxas’s hands, fingertips brushing feather light over his knuckles. Ven turns his hands over and kisses his palms. “You’re passionate and vivid, like the sunset in Twilight Town. And if my heart is a compass, I hope it’ll keep pointing to you.” 

“Hey, Ven?”

“What is it, Roxas?”

“I haven’t even heard anything that cheesy in Isa’s soaps.”

Ven pulls his hands away to shove at Roxas’s chest then cover his face with his hands. “I had a confession all planned out, you know! But I didn’t want you to feel insecure either. I tried my best!”

Roxas chuckles. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” His heart points towards Ven and he pries his hands off his face to steal a proper kiss. As he closes his eyes, two meteors fall in quick succession.

**Author's Note:**

> HI  
> This uh. This took all day to write because I completely forgot this week was a Thing until yesterday.  
> I'm gonna try to do the other days even though I have school because hi my name is Caelan and I make bad choices.  
> You know, fun fact, this was supposed to be a platonic piece. This was definitely not supposed to be as cheesy as it is. But sometimes! Sometimes things happen! And that's okay!  
> (I'm excited just to have this done ignore me.)  
> OH right uh you can follow me (or talk to me!) on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/CrepusculeChaos) if you want where I...mostly retweet fanart and occasionally scream into the void at night when I feel less insecure about it.  
> Okay thank you for reading byyyyyyeeeeee.


End file.
